The Rashtrakutas and their Times c15.3

c15.3

Kingship at this period was hereditary throughout India. We nowhere come across any elective type of monarchy in our period, either in the south or in the north. We get only one clear case of the election of a king which is referred to in the Rājatarangiṇī. This case occurred in 939 A.D., when at the death of Sūrvarmar there was no heir of the Utpala dynasty to succeed him. Kamalavardhana, who had actually become the de facto king, requested the Brahmanas to elect a king, anticipating that none but himself would be elected by them. After considering the claims of several claimants, the Brahmana assembly decided to elect Yaśaskara. This, however, is the only known case of the genuine election of a king by a section of the general population as distinguished from ministers or feudatories; but the observations of Kalhaṇa on the occasion show that a person who resorted to such a course was regarded as qualifying himself for admission into a lunatic asylum.¹ Feudatories and ministers had sometimes a determining voice in deciding as to who should be offered the crown, as when Govinda II was deposed in c. 780 A.D., or Amoghavarsha III installed in c. 936 A.D. But statements made even with reference to these occasions like